Why doesn't the U.S. stand up for human rights in China?

I realize our relationship with China is complex, based on trading and their growing ownership of assets in the United States. But detaining and harming people for attempting to protest unfair treatment by the government when VP Joe Biden was there is horrible. How did our country - the supposed defender of free speech and human rights - respond to this incident?

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing declined to comment.

To accept another country's maltreatment of its own people, without even a comment, is immoral. To continue to deal with governments that do this as if nothing happened means our own government is willing to accept such behavior. Which does not bode well for the American people.